Master of Frankfurt


The Master of Frankfurt was a Flemish Renaissance painter active in Antwerp between about 1480 and 1520. Although he probably never visited Frankfurt am Main, his name derives from two paintings commissioned from patrons in that city, the Holy Kinship in the Frankfurt Historical Museum and a Crucifixion in the Städel museum.
He is one of many anonymous artists identifiable by their painting style but not by name. The Master of Frankfurt is, however, often thought to be a Hendrik van Wueluwe, an artist famous in Antwerp around the same time as the anonymous painter but otherwise unconnected to any paintings.
His dated Self portrait of the artist with his wife in its original frame reveals that the artist was 36 years old at the time it was made, as well as a member of Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke.
If he is the same artist as Van Wueluwe, then he was also dean of the guild six times. Attributed paintings include his self-portrait, the Festival of the Archers, and the two paintings in Frankfurt.
The Master of Frankfurt is also known for painting numerous copies after earlier Netherlandish painters such as Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes for the open market and for developing, around 1500 in Antwerp, a new artistic style alongside his more famous contemporary Quentin Metsys.

Museum collections

  • , New York; Master of Frankfurt, The Adoration of the Christ Child, ca. 1496–1502
  • , Paris; Master of Frankfurt, Vierge à l'Enfant dans un paysage, ca. 1514
  • , Madrid; Maestro of Frankfurt, La Sagrada Familia , ca. 1508
  • , Madrid; Maestro de Francfort, Sagrada Familia con ángel músico, Santa Catalina de Alejandría, Santa Bárbara, ca. 1510–1520
  • , Michigan; Master of Frankfurt, The Virgin Enthroned
  • , Vienna, Austria; Master of Frankfurt, Triptych, Adoration of the Magi, the Nativity and the Circumcision, c. 1512
  • , The Hague; Meester van Frankfurt, Saint Christopher, ca. 1500,, 1510–1520, and, 1510–1520
  • , Washington D.C.; Master of Frankfurt, Saint Anne with the Virgin and the Christ Child, ca. 1511–15
  • , Barcelona; Mestre de Frankfurt, Triptych of the Baptism of Christ, 1500–1520
  • , Liverpool, UK; Master of Frankfurt, The Holy Family with Music Making Angels, 1510–1520
  • , West Palm Beach, Florida; Master of Frankfurt, The Lamentation
  • , California; Master of Frankfurt, Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine with Saints and Angles, ca. 1500–1510
  • , Maryland; Master of Frankfurt, Virgin and Child Enthroned, ca. 1515–1520
  • ; Master of Frankfurt, Madonna and Child crowned by two angels, ca. 1490s
  • , Frankfurt, Meister von Frankfurt, St. Anne Altarpiece, ca 1505, Two Saints: St. Odilia and St. Cecilia, ca. 1505
  • , San Antonio, Texas; Master of Frankfurt, St. Barbara and St. Catherine
  • , Brisbane, Australia; Master of Frankfurt, Virgin and Child with Saint James the Pilgrim, Saint Catherine and the Donor with Saint Peter, ca. 1496